The Rope Ladder
by Aine Valentine
Summary: "Now, Annie was more than capable of doing this herself, but two things stopped her; one, she knew how determined Eren was to do this and she was actually quite interested to see if he could, and two, watching her boyfriend struggle was beyond entertaining." AU.


Notes: Modern Day AU, inspired by of-monsters-and-enigmas (on tumblr). Enjoy!

Also note: Eren is OOC. Because this is a modern day setting, he isn't so…angsty and revenge fueled. Know that in this he doesn't have a reason to fight—though Annie is more in character, she, too, is also out of character a bit. Again, because it's a modern setting, she's not really planning some huge trust breaking mission.

That's all, hope you like it!

It was possibly the most frustrating thing in the entire universe. An hour spent, money wasted, nearly brought to tears on multiple occasions—what else could it be than the hardest, most impossible, most _irritating thing on the planet_—

"Of all the places she finds a gigantic kitten plushy, it has to be the fucking _rope ladder_?" Eren grunts, climbing up the ladder.

Now, Annie was more than capable of doing this herself, but two things stopped her; one, she knew how determined Eren was to do this and she was actually quite interested to see if he could, and two, watching her boyfriend struggle was beyond entertaining.

Earlier, Annie and Eren had been walking down the busy streets of the state fair, side by side, sharing a soft pretzel—and then she saw it; the biggest, cutest, _fluffiest _cat plushy in the world.

Now, don't mischaracterize her; Annie Leonhardt was not a touchy-feely, lovey-dovey, "_Oh my gosh how cute!"_ Type of girl. But if there was one thing that made her break her normally quiet, reserved exterior, it was kittens. She could relate to cats, preferring to be alone and choosing the people you want to be affectionate towards. She was very much a cat person, having been surrounded by them as she grew up. Plus, she had to admit, cats were just plain adorable. If there was any one downfall ("Besides you of course, Eren," she mentioned offhandedly to him when he grew disappointed that he wasn't her downfall—a side effect of his male pride and all) it was cats.

Annie stopped walking momentarily to stare at the large stuffed animal, a small smile playing on her mouth. It was fully black with the brightest blue eyes and the fluffiest tail—it looked exactly like her childhood kitten did. Eren noticed this slight pause, and looked over to where his girlfriend was staring. Catching sight of the huge animal, a grin played on his face. What better way to be an awesome boyfriend than to win your girl a prize? Besides, the rope ladder couldn't be _that_ hard—

Mistake number one of his day.

"Oh, you want the cat plushy?" Eren asked, handing her the rest of the pretzel. He pulled his wallet out of his back pocket and pulled out a dollar. "That's easy enough. Stay here, I'll be right back," Eren said, walking to the booth.

"Wait, Eren!" Annie said, walking up behind him. "Don't bother. It's just a toy. If I wanted one that badly, I could go to the store and buy one," Annie said. "Let's just go meet up with Mikasa and Armin, they're waiting for us—"

Eren shook his head. "Come on, Ann, I'll get this in no time!"

Annie raised an eyebrow. "Really? Have you ever done this before?" She questioned, remembering how difficult it was the first time she attempted the rope ladder.

Eren shrugged. "No. Mikasa and I normally came just for the rides. We never played the games growing up," he said. He waved his hand, making a face. "How hard can it be? Just climb up and ring the bell!"

Annie smirked. "All right, Jeager, give it your best." She said, shaking her head.

She watched as Eren handed the booth keeper his dollar and begin to walk up to the ladder. One step on, up to the second rung and—_"Ouch! God dammit!" _Annie rolled her eyes, calling for her boyfriend to come back. "No! I'm going to get this stuffed animal for you, Annie!"

Two tries. Three tries. Four tries later and Eren could make it up to the fourth rung. However, four out of nine was not a very good place to be if you wanted the prize—and he was down five bucks now. Annie watched, amused as Eren refused to give up. She knew he wasn't even going for the prize anymore; he was now doing this just to prove he could. It was something she loved about him, his sheer determination and will power, but she also thought it would ultimately lead to one of two things: a early death or him finally snapping and going mental.

Annie pulled out her phone, hearing it beep.

_Mikasa: Where are you guys?_

She responded.

_Eren's being a little bastard again and refusing to give up on the rope ladder. It's hilarious. Come and watch? We're by the blue rollercoaster._

Within minutes, Armin and Mikasa were standing on either side of Annie, the three of them finding amusement from Eren's many failed attempts.

Twenty bucks down and one happy booth keeper later, Eren made it up to the sixth rung. He reached his right hand up, stepping carefully up the center of the rung and—_"Oof! Shit!"_

Annie grabbed him as he came back to hand the man behind the booth more money. "Eren, can I please just give you some advice if you're going to be do damn determined?"

Eren shook his head. "I got you, Annie! I'll do this!"

"Come on, Eren, I don't want it that bad—"

"No! I'm gonna win this one for ya, Annie, I swear!" He said, beaming at her. "I know I'm doing awfully but I'll get it soon—"

"Take her advice, Eren, we want to have time to go on the rides, too," Mikasa interrupted.

Eren stared at her. "You actually have advice? You know how to do this?" He looked at Annie, who nodded. He hummed. "Hmm, I think I'm good. I just need to focus—"

"No, Eren, what you need to do is shift your weight properly. Don't step in the middle. Start with your feet on either side of the rung close to the rope. When you lift one arm, lift the opposite leg at the same time. Grab the next rung and step up at the same time, too, and you won't fall on your face again." Annie said, growing tired of watching Eren fail.

Eren blinked. "That makes a lot more sense."

Hastily, he pulled out another five dollar bill—he'd resorted to just paying for multiple now, seeing as he ran out of ones a long time ago. Handing it to the vender, Eren ran back up and took Annie's advice.

One try.

Two tries. To the seventh rung.

Three. To the eighth rung.

Four. Only one more to go—

Eren grit his teeth, glaring at the stupid rope ladder. "That five was my last one and there's no way I'm letting a stupid fair game beat me!" He yelled as he thudded on the mat below, earning many strange looks. Annie brought her hand to her face, wishing her white hoodie would just swallow her up—God, Eren could be _so embarrassingly determined _sometimes.

With surprising agility, Eren placed his feet on both sides of the first rung, hands on the rope. He lifted his right arm and placed it higher on the rope as he lifted his left leg and moved it to the next rung simultaneously. Thrice more he did this before the ladder began to wobble. Quickly, he moved further up, determined to win. He reached the eighth rung, there was only one left to go! He moved up, reaching the top rung, holding out his arm—

He smacked the bell just in time.

Armin let out a whoop, and Mikasa and Annie stood, stunned. "He did it," Mikasa said.

Annie nodded. "Yeah. Wasn't expecting that one."

Eren landed on the mat with a thud, running over to the booth. "That giant cat plushy—now!" The man laughed, nodding as he went to get it.

"See? I told you I'd get it, Annie!" Eren said happily, taking the huge cat in his arms. "What are you gonna name it?" He handed the kitten plushy to the blonde girl, who wrapped her arms around it—standing at two feet tall, the kitten was almost half her size (off by only a half of a foot). Annie smiled at Eren, kissing his cheek.

"I think the thing most girlfriends do is name it after their boyfriend, right?" She asked.

Eren's face lit up. "Really?"

Mikasa groaned. "Will you two please just move along? It's eight o'clock, there's no way we can fit all the rides in now with only four hours—and what are you going to do with that thing, Annie?"

Annie shrugged, holding the stuffed toy close to her body. "I'll just put it with our bags, Mikasa," she said. Together, the four walked off to the nearest roller coaster.

That night, Annie held the plushy in her arms as she fell asleep.

But she'd never tell Eren that.


End file.
